SGN August 3, 2012 - Section 1

Issue 31 Volume 40

FRIDAY August 3, 2012 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & newsstands

Celebrating 39 Years!

SALLY CLARK p. 5

GOODBYE, leslie p. 16

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN p. 28

Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

reuters

Democrats will add $2.5m for marriage equality marriage equality Amazon.com founder & wife pony up big bucks to Approve R-74 to party platform

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

tim coffey

Mass.) told the Washington Blade this week.

The committee is a smaller panel of the full Platform Committee, charged with writing the party platform to be formally adopted at the Democratic National Convention in September.

Frank, a member of the drafting committee, said all 15 members voted unanimously to add a marriage plank and several other proLGBT positions on July 29.

“I was part of a unaniRepresentative Barney Frank mous decision to include it,” Frank said.

by Mike Andrew “There was a unanimous decision in the drafting committee to inSGN Staff Writer clude it in the platform, which I The Democratic Party platform supported, but everybody was for drafting committee will recom- it.” mend adding a marriage equalsee platform page 21 ity plank, Rep. Barney Frank (D–

On July 27, the billionaire founder of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, along with his wife, MacKenzie Bezos, delivered a $2.5 million donation to Washington United for Marriage, the campaign for marriage equality in Washington state.

With this contribution, the pair became the two largest financial supporters of same-sex marriage in the United States.

“It’s an amazing gift, an amazing investment in our campaign and we’re really grateful to Jeff and MacKenzie,” Washington United for Marriage Campaign Manager Zach Silk said. “It’s clear to us that they saw this as the time to step up and invest in the opportunity to make history.”

Jennifer Cast, Washington United for Marriage campaign finance chair, was one of the earliest employees at Amazon. A Lesbian mother of four, Cast sent an email to Bezos that described in detail the pain she endured as a young

see amazon page 21

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos

Writer Gore Vidal dies Democrats introduce Reuters

by James Whitely SGN Staff Writer

Gore Vidal, the internationally renowned American author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and political activist whose career spanned more than 60 years, has died. One of the first American mainstream public figures to write unapologetically about homosexuality, he passed away July 31 at his Hollywood Hills home from complications of pneumonia. He was 86.

Vidal’s influence on American postmodern literature was, and will continue to be, immense. A celebrity among authors, Vidal was close friends with many of them, including Orson Welles and Tennessee Williams. He wrote 25 novels and innumerable essays on politics, sexuality, religion, and literature. He also wrote stage plays and screenplays.

Vidal was born in West Point, New York, the son of an army officer – one of the first Army Air Corps pilots – and an Olympian athlete. His mother, Nina Gore, was a socialite who, according to her son, had a casual affair with actor Clark Gable after her marriage to Vidal’s father dissolved.

He grew up in Washington D.C., where he often assisted his grandGore Vidal (1925 - 2012)

see vidal page 18

Cure for AIDS Act

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Two Democratic members of Congress have introduced a bill to fund research and development for an AIDS cure.

Representatives Jim Himes (D– Conn.) and Barbara Lee (D–Calif.) announced the Cure for AIDS Act (HR 6187) on July 31. Lee

is co-chair of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus.

The bill establishes a $100 million program to fund research directly targeted at discovering a cure for HIV/AIDS. It would provide $20 million per year for the next five years.

The effort would be overseen by see cure page 19

e t o v o t R e t s i g e R

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Community raises $2,000 in response to Kalina’s death

Contributing Writers

Rev. Barbara Allen, Eric Andrews-Katz, Madelyn Arnold, Maggie Bloodstone, Beau Burriola, Jessica Davis, Ron Anders, Jessica Price, Milton W. Hamlin, Scott Wittet, Nevin Jefferson, Jason A. Miller, Liz Meyer, Rod Parke, Don Paulson, Scott Rice, Leslie Robinson, Richard Kennedy, Rex Wockner

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Mama Tits (far right) hosted “Mimosas With Mama,” a celebration of the life of Scott Kalina.

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor On July 29, at The Grill on Broadway, members of the community gathered for “Mimosas With Mama,” hosted by Mama Tits, to celebrate the life of fallen Capitol Hill icon Scott Kalina. The event raised $2,000 for Seattle Counseling Service (SCS), an LGBT-specific mental health and addiction services resource serving Seattle since 1969.

“Capitol Hill lost one of its brightest

In Loving Memory Of

Steve Foiles, Scott Roger Alpert, Cookie Andrews-Hunt, James Leland Moore, Randy Peters, Lee Richeson, Shaun Shelton, Jim Tully, James Arnold

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Seattle Gay News

August 3, 2012

lights last weekend, when friend to all, Scott Kalina, was taken far too soon,” Tim Harmon, marketing manager for The Grill on Broadway announced in a July 25 press release. “As a personal friend of Kalina, local entertainer Brian Daniel Peters was affected greatly by the tragic loss.”

Peters’ alter ego, Mama Tits, hosts the weekly drag brunch, “Mimosas With Mama” every Sunday at The Grill On Broadway. So, on July 29, Peters turned the event into a heartfelt memorial and celebration of Scott’s life, by bringing in entertainers and friends who were close to him, along with members of his family.

The event featured performances by Mark “Mom” Finley, Robbie Turner, Aleksa Manila, Ursula Major, Tipsy Rose Lee, Atasha Manila, Katrina Duall, Fraya Love, Lady Chablis, Heather Hysteric, BlueBear Wharton, and of course, Mama Tits herself.

Proceeds from the show, as well as entertainers’ tips were donated to Seattle Counseling Service in Scott’s name.

Scott had struggled with drug addiction and, in the days leading up to his death, is believed to have relapsed. On July 21, just

after 10 p.m., Seattle Fire crews responded to a call at his Capitol Hill apartment. According to Seattle Fire, when they arrived, Scott was not breathing and people at the scene were attempting to give him CPR. Medics continued the resuscitation effort but he was declared dead at the scene. He was 34.

Mama Tits put together a photo board at the event, and requested that Scott’s friends bring photo prints depicting their best memories with Scott for placement on it. The board was nearly full by the end of the evening, and was presented to the Kalina family.

At the event, Mama Tits reminded everyone that there needs to be more awareness about addiction and that it is important to get involved when friends need help. “We need to have the balls to call them out on it and have to have the balls to help them” said Mama.

A memorial for Scott Kalina will take place Saturday, August 4, at Cal Anderson Park in the Shelter House area from 5 to 8 p.m., and a celebration of his life will be held at the Social from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Celebrating 39 Years!

SGN Exclusive Interview

Sally Clark

Seattle City Council president reports back from Kennedy School of Government class seattle.gov

a chance to think of new conceptual frameworks for addressing policy issues. Students take an in-depth look at the behavioral dimensions of decision-making and are able to challenge the accepted assumptions about how to exercise leadership in the public sector. Things that like, Clark said, are things a public official will always have in the back of his or her mind but will not often have time to mull over.

“It’s a look at how government can work better,” said Clark.

DIVERSE CLASSMATES Clark was one of 78 students from all over the United States, and from countries such as Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand. She studied with other councilmembers, assemblymembers, and even judges.

“It was really just a great mix of people to work with,” said Clark. “It was really great company.”

Clark told SGN that during the threeweek course she was in class all day and did homework at night, just like when she was studying at the University of Washington, where she earned her degree in political sci-

ence.

The course is, in Clark’s words, “pretty expensive” – and it is, costing more than $10,000. But Clark was able to attend thanks to a grant from the Victory Institute, an organization dedicated to changing the face and voice of America’s politics by increasing the number of openly LGBT officials at all levels of government.

“I was very lucky that I received help from the Victory Institute,” said Clark “That really made it possible for me.”

The Victory Institute has a program specifically designed for helping openly LGBT politicians take the Kennedy School course – the David Bohnett LGBT Leadership Fellows. Ninety-one openly LGBT leaders have been able to attend since 2002 through this program.

The Seattle City Council president is happy to be home and back alongside her partner, Liz. When asked if the two plan to walk down the aisle after November, Clark said, “Were certainly going to talk about it a lot more seriously if things go well this fall, that’s for sure.”

Under the spell of crystal meth?

Where to go for help in Seattle

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

Sally Clark

by James Whitely SGN Staff Writer Sally J. Clark, a member of the Seattle City Council since 2006 and its current president, recently attended the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. The threeweek program is designed to “help seasoned public officials meet the changing needs of their constituents and communities,” school officials say, and it “enables participants to become more effective public managers.”

SGN was able to chat with the very busy Clark about the prestigious course.

“Three weeks is a lot of time away from work, family, and home,” Clark told SGN. “But I’d been wanting to do it for a few years.”

The course is designed for career public servants, and in essence it is an almost philosophical look at democracy and leadership in action.

“It gives time to struggle with the questions that I don’t always have time to struggle with day-to-day,” said Clark. “There’s not a lot of space for that in people’s [daily] work for that.”

On the most basic level, the course explores the relationship between citizens and their government, offering public officials

Rev. Sue Stackhouse 1947–2012 Sue was born February 6, 1947, in Red Cloud, Nebraska. She graduated with honors from Fort Hays State University, where she majored in speech pathology and psychology. She worked for the Fresno, California, school district for 13 years before moving to Washington state in 1985. There she got involved with Seattle Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) and received clerical training at the Samaritan Institute of Religious Studies. She and Anne moved to Bellingham to establish Song of Messiah MCC, where she served eight and a half years as pastor. Sue was an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights and often gave lectures on “Homosexuality and the Bible.”

Memorial services will be held in Seattle at University Temple Methodist Church on August 11 at 2 p.m., and in BellingThe Rev. Sue Anne Stackhouse passed ham at the Center for Spiritual Living on away July 24, 2012, after a two-year bat- August 12 at 4 p.m. The family requests tle with cancer. Her life partner, the Rev. that charitable donations be made in Anne Hulse, was nearby. lieu of flowers.

Crystal Meth is alive and well in the Seattle Gay community. It is a drug associated with everything from crime to the spread of HIV. If you are a Gay man in Seattle chances are you have either used meth before, know someone who is, or have, at the very least, heard about someone that uses.

In the wake of a drug-related death in the community, Seattle Gay News looked into what resources are available for people battling addiction. I didn’t want to write about what crystal meth looks like, how it’s taken, and so on.

Instead, I chose to focus on the support that exists in our community in case you, or someone you know, needs help.

more than uneducated, ignorant fodder.

Had I taken the time to really look at all the men she swept out to sea I would have understood that Tina’s a siren whom will take anybody anywhere.

And how surreal the whole experience is!

The using increases slowly, but surely, as Tina’s hypnotic drum becomes the melody of our life. We begin marching, following, drifting along to her steady beat until day and night mean no different. The smart ones see it eventually, the dumb knowing all along, the ignorant thriving in a bliss of their own: regardless of whom and which there is always the day every addict realizes the march embarked on isn’t a new way of life, rather just strains of our own heartbeat taken under siege. In the slipstream of descent and despair we bend reality just enough to be reborn, held in Tina’s lovely and arcane arms as we fly away from reality and into Never Never land; for it’s in this reality of meth actualized that we are truly the world’s Lost Boys.

If you are a Gay man in Seattle, chances are you have either used meth before, know someone who is, or at the very least, have heard about someone that uses.

THE WORLD’S LOST BOYS Tony Radovich, an outspoken wellknown community activist and peer facilitator for Strength Over Speed (SOS), a peer-to-peer crystal meth recovery program for Gay men in Seattle, told me, “My friend is missing. I have no idea where he is. I’m hoping he is in treatment.”

His friend, “Anonymous” recently wrote: Black rooms are calling To men in leather coats White labs are cooking up the silver ghost The glass migrates under his translucent skin And all the spiders wonder what we’ve got us in I’m writing because I left town yet again in an attempt to get clean. I was becoming something I was not proud of and needed to put my own foot down.

To be frank the last year has been a slow descent into a world I once sneered at, for before I started using I only saw meth as a beast for trash; a play thing for mediocrity. Looking back I think it was a fair statement given what I knew then, but knowing what I know now it is nothing

We strain, we flail, we live like shadows, we nail coffins to our friends, we become savages, we feast on the fuck, we romanticize our writing, we dissolve our morality, we thank our unlucky stars and watch the same overpass sunsets and sunrises for days on end in hope of sobriety, or maybe just a couple life-affirming/altering messages from the cosmos, the universe, God, ourselves.

Who the fuck knows.

‘WE ALL MATTER, RIGHT?’ Radovich knows that he is not everyone’s cup of tea. He’s built a reputation for not sugar-coating things, which can make some people uncomfortable. But whenever I speak with Radovich I get the feeling he isn’t worried about “some people.” He’s see meth page 20

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Marriage is good business – and good for business Seattle’s ‘Gay Chamber of Commerce’ touts marriage equality’s economic boost

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Same-sex marriage became legal in New York a little over one year ago. Since then, New York City alone has benefited from the law to the tune of $259 million, according to Bloomberg News. This figure includes $55 million just from hotel stays.

“More than 200,000 guests have since traveled from outside of the city to attend same-sex wedding receptions, and more than 235,000 hotel room nights were booked at an average daily room rate of $275,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at an event commemorating the first full year of marriage equality in the state.

Money matters. We all know that. And, to be quite honest, so do benefits, protections – and, of course, love. You simply cannot have a discussion about marriage equality without talking about these things. But Washington state is not New York. So just how much would Washingtonians benefit from same-sex marriage?

“A Williams Institute study shows that spending on weddings and tourism by same-sex couples and their guests will add an estimated $88-million boost to the state and local economy in Washington, with $57 million in the first year alone,” Mona Smith, spokesperson for the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA), told SGN. “This economic boost will likely add $8 million in state and local tax revenue.”

Since 1981, the GSBA has combined business development, leadership, and social action to expand economic opportunities for Seattle’s LGBT community.

The GSBA is known as the “Gay Business Chamber” or “Gay Chamber of Commerce” and is the largest LGBT and allied business chamber in the United States.

GSBA officials told SGN, “Marriage is both good business and good for business.”

KEY TO ATTRACTING TALENT “The new generation of workers are choosing where they want to live before where they want to work,” Smith said. “Living, working, and playing in a state that is inclusive and diverse, and that supports equality for all of its citizens, are key values for these workers.”

Smith points out that an increasing number of employers recognize that in order to recruit and retain the best, brightest, and most innovative workers, companies need to create inclusive environments that provide benefits and protections of employees and their families.

“Marriage equality is good business,” she said, “because it is good for the bottom line.”

Employers who care about their workers and their families and treat them fairly earn the respect and loyalty of their employees, which in turn results in greater productivity, less absenteeism, and longer employee retention, according to Smith.

“While some may believe that only companies with liberal executives support marriage equality, that is simply a myth,” she said. “Liberal and conservative corporate executives alike understand the relationship and significance between marriage equality and business.”

As an example, Smith looks to a lifelong Republican, John Taft, CEO of RBC Wealth Management. Taft recently said that in today’s competitive market, companies need to “foster a welcoming and inclusive culture” in order to recruit the best talent, of which Gays and Lesbians are a “critical source of quality employees.”

GSBA officials say marriage equality will bring more security to LGBT couples and families.

“Our families and our loving and committed relationships will be recognized and treated the same as opposite-sex families in

the state of Washington,” said the GSBA in an email to SGN. “However, we would say that all Washingtonians benefit from marriage equality, because we will be a state that is both diverse and inclusive of all who call Washington home.”

a natural choice to not only join the Washington United for Marriage Coalition, but to once again play a critical role as a member of the Coordinating Committee, making the business case for marriage equality and working with other business organizations and chambers of commerce and businesses TOURISM ALSO BENEFITS to endorse marriage equality and support From an economic perspective, the GSBA the campaign to Approve Referendum 74.” has already played a critical role in increasing revenue for Washington businesses as MARRIAGE BELIEFS ‘EVOLVED’ well as generating state and local tax revLouise Chernin, president and CEO of enue through its Tourism Initiative, said of- the GSBA, can relate to Washington Gov. ficials.

Christine Gregoire and President Barack In less than two years, the GSBA has con- Obama because, like them, her thinking tributed to making Seattle the ninth most on same-sex marriage also had to evolve. popular LGBT travel destination in the There was a time when Chernin did not beUnited States. Prior to the GSBA’s Tourism lieve anyone should get married.

Initiative, Seattle was ranked 19th.

As a long-time feminist, Chernin told “As the Williams Institute study suggests, SGN, “I spent a lot of the ’80s and ’90s wedding and tourism industry-related busi- speaking out against the institution of marnesses, including those businesses that are riage, since, as we all know, marriage was GSBA members, should see a bump in busi- created to easily transfer property, including ness from marriage equality,” said Smith. women as property.”

“Large, medium, and small businesses inHowever, marriage as a civil right is a tocluding airlines, hotels, restaurants, baker- tally different story, she said. ies, photographers, rental cars, dealerships, “Marriage is recognized the world over caterers, florists, wedding planners, cloth- as a way to acknowledge the depth of a reing retailers, musicians, DJs, accountants, lationship, of commitment between people attorneys, financial planners, and more who love each other and want to take care could benefit from marriage equality.” of each other, and [is] how we protect our The GSBA joined Washington United for families,” she said. “When looked at it from Marriage, the campaign asking voters to this emotional, legal, and universal perspecApprove Referendum 74 in November, to tive, I find it incredible that our government, keep the state’s same-sex marriage law on or any government, charged with providing the books. its citizens equality under the law, can inten“GSBA has been fighting for LGBT civil tionally deny this basic civil right to a segrights and equality for all from its inception ment of its population.” in 1981,” said officials. “Over the years, Chernin, who’s been in a loving and comGSBA has been a leader in advocating for mitted relationship with partner Mary Klein LGBT civil rights, domestic partnerships, for 21 years, continued, “In this day and and marriage equality. We have lobbied age, it is inconceivable that we are even disin the legislature and have filed amicus cussing whether some loving relationships briefs in the courts. We played a key role and families are more equal than others.” in [2009’s] Referendum 71, being a mem“Trying to find a way to rationalize why ber of that campaign’s organizing com- certain rights, but not all rights, are given mittee. Our commitment to social justice to some people, but not all people, makes and equality and our role as a leader in the a mockery of every civil rights law on the LGBT and business communities made it books,” she concluded.

Marriage equality has lead in new Maryland poll

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A new Hart Research poll released August 2 shows Maryland’s marriage equality law with a 14-point lead among likely voters. Like Washington’s new marriage law, Maryland’s will be up for approval on the November ballot.

Of the 504 likely voters surveyed by Hart, 54% said they would vote to keep the law, while only 40% said they would vote to repeal it.

“This 14-point support margin is a marked improvement over the eight points we measured this past March [51% voting for, 43% voting against],” Hart Research Associates said in a memo accompanying the poll numbers.

“We continue to have the momentum,” said Josh Levin, campaign manager for Marylanders for Marriage Equality, which commissioned the poll.

“Voters are having conversations on marriage around the dinner table and are agreeing that people should be treated fairly.”

BLACK SUPPORT GROWING The poll found that support for marriage equality had increased significantly among African Americans, who make up about 30% of Maryland’s population. The latest numbers show African-American voters evenly split on the issue – 44% in favor of the new marriage law and 45% opposed.

Hart’s March poll showed black voters re-

jecting the law by nine points, 40% to 49%.

“The change is largely due to increased discussion of marriage equality following the endorsement of the issue by President Obama and the NAACP,” Marylanders for Marriage Equality said in a statement.

The new polling also found support for marriage equality increasing among white voters. They now favor the state’s marriage law by 13 points – 54% to 41% – while in March they supported it by only 11 points.

Hart also reported that the intensity of pro-equality feeling among voters was increasing, pulling ahead of intense feelings on the other side. Forty-three percent of respondents now say they have “strong” proequality views – up from 39% in March.

This compares favorably with the 35% who said they have “strong” feelings against equal marriage rights.

“We’re winning over undecideds and the intensity is clearly on our side,” Levin said.

“Voters are realizing that this law is about treating our Gay friends, family, and neighbors equally under the law, and that no religious institution would be forced to marry anyone they objected to.”

In a separate survey question, Hart asked respondents to rate the importance of the marriage equality referendum.

“It is notable that among the near-majority of Maryland voters who rate the issue as ‘extremely’ important, 66% would vote for marriage equality and just 33% would vote against,” Hart said in the memo.

Rich Full-Bodied Cafes Savory Homestyle Soups & Sandwiches 6

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infinity portrait design

Republicans play politics with DOMA lawsuits

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Nancy Gill and Marcelle Letourneau are plaintiffs in the case Gill v. OPM.

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a request by House Republican leaders for an extension on their deadline to respond to two requests that the high court review the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Republicans, who took up the task of defending DOMA in court after the U.S. Department of Justice decided it would no longer do so, had until August 2 to inform the court whether they believed it should review the two challenges.

The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to hear Golinski v. OPM and Gill v. OPM, suits originally brought by Lambda Legal and GLAD, respectively, and issue a decision on whether DOMA is constitutional.

The delay granted by the Supreme Court gives the House Republican leadership until August 31 to decide if they will also ask the court to take the DOMA cases.

According to lawyers working on the case, the deadline extension will delay the hearing of the cases – if the court decides to take either of them – by one week at most, when the justices reconvene in the fall.

The new timeline may have more to do with this year’s presidential campaigns than with constitutional law, however.

The new deadline falls one day after the end of the Republican National Convention on August 30, and a week before the Democratic convention. This timeline provides an opportunity for Republicans to attack President Obama on the marriage issue, and – they presumably hope – to expand the “bounce” in favorability ratings that parties usually see immediately after their conventions.

A third request for a Supreme Court hearing on DOMA, in Windsor v. United States, has been filed by the ACLU. The deadline for a response from Republicans in this case is August 16.

Gill v. OPM already has been decided by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that DOMA violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause in the Fifth Amendment. The next – and last – appeal in this case would be to the Supreme Court.

Federal district court judges have made similar rulings in Golinski and Windsor, but those cases have not yet been heard by an appeals court. It would be unusual, though not unprecedented, for the Supreme Court to review those decisions before that happens.

The Supreme Court is not obligated to hear any case. It will issue a writ of certiorari to take a case only if four of the nine justices vote to do so.

Crisetti Quimson

Once again, DOMA is ruled unconstitutional

Bush-appointed judge is the latest to say law fails crucial legal tests

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A federal district judge in Connecticut ruled on July 31 that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection clause and fails both the “heightened scrutiny” and “rational basis” tests for constitutionality.

Vanessa Bryant, who was appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush, ruled in the case of Pedersen v. OPM that laws classifying people based on sexual orientation should be subject to heightened scrutiny by courts but found that “it is clear that DOMA fails to pass constitutional muster under even the most deferential level of judicial scrutiny.”

“Heightened scrutiny,” as defined in the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision Witt v.

U.S. Air Force, means that to be found constitutional, a discriminatory law must (a) advance an important governmental interest, (b) significantly further that interest, and (c) be necessary to further that interest.

“Section 3 of DOMA obligates the federal government to single out a certain category of marriages as excluded from federal recognition,” Bryant concluded, “thereby resulting in an inconsistent distribution of federal marriage benefits, as all marriages authorized by certain states will receive recognition and marital benefits, whereas only a portion of marriages authorized by other states will receive federal recognition and benefits.”

In a written opinion more than 100 pages long, Bryant dismissed arguments by the so-called Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), created by Republican House Speaker John Boehner to defend DOMA after the Obama administration declared it

could no longer do so.

“In sum, having considered the purported rational bases proffered by both BLAG and Congress and concluded that such objectives bear no rational relationship to Section 3 of DOMA as a legislative scheme, the Court finds that no conceivable rational basis exists for the provision,” Bryant wrote.

“The provision therefore violates the equal protection principles incorporated in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

“Rational basis” review tests whether a government action like DOMA is a reasonable means to an end that may be legitimately pursued by the government.

GLAD WELCOMES BRYANT’S RULING Pedersen was filed by GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) on behalf of six same-sex married couples and one widower who claim they were denied federal benefits they would have received had they been opposite-sex married couples.

“Judge Bryant’s ruling is very clear – married people are married and should be treated as such by the federal government. There is no legitimate basis for DOMA’s broad disrespect of the marriages of same-sex couples,” GLAD Civil Rights Project Director Mary Bonauto said in a statement.

“We are very pleased that the Court recognized that DOMA’s creation of secondclass marriages harms our clients who simply seek the same opportunities to care and provide for each other and for their children that other families enjoy.”

Pedersen was also the case in which U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder determined that the Justice Department could no longer defend DOMA.

Joanne Pedersen and Ann Meitzen are plaintiffs in the case Pedersen v. OPM.

“After careful consideration, including a review of my recommendation, the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny,” Holder said at the time.

“The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional.

Given that conclusion, the President has

instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases.”

Section 3 of DOMA is the part specifying that “the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.”

At least six other federal judges over the past two years have found Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional. Four of those cases are awaiting review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Come meet Tim and Matt and join the family.

Go 1605 12th Avenue at Pine, Seattle (In liquor store parking garage.) Seattle Storm!

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7

Prop 8 supporters ask Supreme Court to hear appeal

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Supporters of Prop 8, the ballot initiative that wiped out equal marriage rights in California, have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.

In a filing on July 31, they asked the high court to determine “[w]hether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.”

Federal District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled in August 2010 that Prop 8 violated both the equal protection and the due process clauses of the U.S. Constitution because it revoked marriage rights for only one category of people – same-sex couples.

A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Ap-

peals upheld Walker’s decision in February of this year. In June, a majority of the Ninth Circuit denied Prop 8 supporters’ request for an en banc, or full-court, hearing.

Prop 8 supporters then asked the Supreme Court to reverse what they called the “manifest errors” of the Ninth Circuit Court decision.

“Unique recognition of a unique relationship in no way disapproves or dishonors other relationships that the State has chosen to recognize differently,” Prop 8 supporters said in their filing.

They demanded that the Supreme Court “return to the People themselves this important and sensitive issue,” presumably by allowing Prop 8 to stand and therefore rejecting marriage equality in California.

The American Foundation for Equal Rights, which filed the suit challenging Prop

8’s constitutionality in 2009, now has 30 days to respond to the filing.

MARRIAGE EQUALITY SIDE OPPOSES REVIEW David Boies and Ted Olson, the lawyers for two same-sex couples who challenged Prop 8 after its passage, said they would oppose review by the Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court has long held that

the freedom to marry is one of the most fundamental rights – if not the most fundamental right – of all Americans,” Boies said. “Today’s petition presents the justices with the chance to affirm our Constitution’s central promises of liberty, equality, and human dignity.”

The Supreme Court is now in its summer recess, and will not hear any cases until they reconvene in the fall. They are not obligated to take any case, but will hear appeals if four of the nine justices vote to do so.

Unlike the three DOMA cases that have also been appealed to the Supreme Court, the Prop 8 case would only affect marriage in the state of California.

The Ninth Circuit ruling against Prop 8 was narrowly written. Rather than finding an affirmative constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry, the majority based its decision on a 1996 Supreme Court precedent that said a majority may not take away a minority’s rights without legitimate reasons. Many legal experts believe this would make it difficult for the Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit’s ruling. dallas morning news

Dems press Homeland Security on LGBT immigration policy Agency asked to stop separating same-sex couples

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D– Calif.) and 83 other Congressional Democrats sent a letter this week to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, asking her to commit in writing to protecting same-sex couples from being separated because one of them is a foreign national.

The letter was signed by Seattle-area U.S. Reps. Jim McDermott (D–7th Dist.) and Adam Smith (D–9th Dist.), and by Rep. Rick Larsen (D–2nd Dist.), who represents most of Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom counties. Democrat Norm Dicks (D–6th Dist.) did not sign the letter.

Pelosi, Jerrold Nadler (D–N.Y.), and Mike Honda (D–Calif.) were the first signers. Nadler and Honda are the prime sponsors of two bills addressing LGBT inequalities in the U.S. immigration system.

Among other notable signers were openly Gay Congressmen Barney Frank (D– Mass.), Jared Polis (D–Colo.), and David Cicilline (D–R.I.), civil rights hero John Lewis (D–Ga.), and John Conyers (D– Mich.), the ranking member and former chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

The letter, dated July 31 and published August 2, was the House Democrats’ second attempt to get a written commitment on binational Gay and Lesbian couples from the Obama administration.

Napolitano, whose department has jurisdiction over immigration issues, had previously made a verbal commitment to “prosecutorial discretion” in cases where one member of a same-sex couple faces deportation because he or she is not a U.S. citizen.

Opposite-sex couples receive expedited green cards and U.S. citizenship, under longstanding U.S. policy.

“Since our last letter to you,” the Democratic representatives wrote Napolitano,

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

“there have been several key developments which show that the verbal policy you articulated to protect LGBT families in and of itself remains inadequate, and with the lifting of the injunction on Arizona’s SB 1070 and other state copycat laws, families face a greater threat of separation.” “[A] written policy is needed now more than ever,” the letter urges.

CHANGE WAS PROMISED Napolitano announced in August 2011 that DHS would focus on what she called the “highest priorities” for immigration enforcement, and that it would consider samesex couples as a “family” for the purposes of enforcement and would allow “prosecutorial discretion” in initiating deportation proceedings against foreign partners.

When members of Congress asked DHS to outline the specifics of the new policy in October 2011, they were told only that “LGBT individuals’ ties and contributions to the community are taken into account” – with no mention of the family ties that officials had said would be included in the considerations.

In their latest letter, House Democrats called on Napolitano to remedy that omission and “issue a written field guidance or a memorandum to explicitly state the policy of your August 18, 2011, announcement,

8

Seattle Gay News

August 3, 2012

which would direct DHS personnel to consider LGBT family ties as a positive factor for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion.”

LGBT immigration activists praised Pelosi and her colleagues for the letter.

“It is a simple action, but also one that will have a real impact on real people and families,” Immigration Equality spokesperson Steve Ralls told BuzzFeed blog.

“We hope Secretary Napolitano will heed the advice of those who signed the letter, and take this important step toward protecting some of the most vulnerable individuals within the immigration system from deportation.”

Lavi Soloway, the founder of Stop the Deportations and a lawyer who has represented many same-sex couples facing separation, said he “commend[s] Leader Pelosi and the other members for keeping the administration’s feet to the fire on this.”

“DHS’ refusal to confirm that the prosecutorial discretion guidelines are meant to keep LGBT families together continues to send mixed messages to deportation officers, immigration judges, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement prosecutors who have the discretion to protect our families and stop deportations,” Soloway added.

“These mixed messages confuse officers in the field and leave LGBT families without protection.”

Celebrating 39 Years!

NORTHWEST

NEWS

compiled by Rick McKinnon SGN Staff Writer

REGISTER TO VOTE Register to vote online at myvote. wa.gov. For more information on the 2012 election, visit www.vote.wa.gov.

Mail-in voter registration forms can also be obtained at myvote.wa.gov or in person at city and county public libraries and county election offices around the state.

The deadline for online and mail-in voter registration as well as CHANGES OF ADDRESS and other updates is Monday, October 8 (SEE NOTE). NOTE: Because Monday, October 8, is a federal holiday, the post office will not be processing mail on October 8, so if you opt to mail in your voter registration rather than register online, you are advised to mail in your voter registration no later than Saturday, October 6, before the last mailbox pick up time that day.

Because Washington State has a voteby-mail system, it is important to submit changes of address to ensure you receive your ballot in the mail. If you have not submitted a change of address by October 8, you can still vote, but you will need to pick up your ballot from your previous address or contact your county elections office for information on other voting options.)

The FINAL deadline for new Washington State voter registration (in person only) is Monday, October 29. After October 8, the only option to register to vote in Washington State is to go in person to your county elections office. The King County Elections Office is located at 919 SW Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057. The Snohomish County Elections Office is located at 3000 Rockefeller Ave. #505, Everett, WA 98201. The Pierce County Elections Office is located at 2501 S. 35th St., Tacoma, WA 98409. For other county locations contact the Washington State Elections Office.

The 18-day mail-in voting period for the 2012 General Election is October 19-November 6.

Ballots must be postmarked no later than Tuesday, November 6. If you mail your ballot on Tuesday, November 6, be sure to put your ballot in the mail box before that mail box’s last scheduled pick up of the day so that it is postmarked November 6. Your county elections office can also provide you with locations where you can drop off your ballot in person.

The November 6 General Election has several important candidates and issues on the ballot – including President of the United States, Governor of the State of Washington, Attorney General of the State of Washington, Referendum 74 to APPROVE Marriage Equality (LGBTQ Marriage) in Washington State, and Initiative 502 to Decriminalize Marijuana in Washington State.

For more information, contact the Washington State Elections Office, 360-9024180; 800-448-4881 (voter hotline).

“BOYZ IN THE WOODS” – Q-SQUARED MEN SEEKING CAMPERS LABOR DAY WEEKEND Q-Squared Men has been hosting their beloved annual Labor Day Weekend CAMP event for a number of years now. This year preregistration is down and they are concerned that if they don’t get enough preregistrations by August 12, they may need to cancel this year’s event. If you’re interested in attending this year’s CAMP, please RSVP and register as soon as possible so the Q-Squared Men can move forward with planning this year’s CAMP. For more information, visit www.QCamp.org.

THREE DOLLAR BILL CINEMA OUTDOOR MOVIE SERIES – “ROAD TRIP” Celebrate summer nights with four irresistible on-screen adventures at Cal Anderson Park (11th Ave. & E. Olive St., just north of E. Pine St.). Movies start at sunset (approximately 8:30 p.m.) and admission is FREE. The movies: Elvis in Viva Las Vegas (August 3) The Wizard of Oz (August 10) The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (August 17) Bring lawn chairs or a blanket to sit on.

Hot popcorn, cold drinks, candy and other concessions will be for sale and a limited number of lawn chairs will be available for rent. Donations to Three Dollar Bill Cinema will be happily accepted. Come early to enjoy music with 12HR NOTICE DJs and the Shopping Cart Soundsystem. www.threedollarbillcinema.org.

GENDER ODYSSEY 2012 CONFERENCE AUGUST 2-5 www.genderodyssey.org KEXP & SEATTLE CENTER’S CONCERTS AT THE MURAL On Fridays, 8/3, 8/10, 8/17 and 8/24, starting at 5:30 p.m., KEXP and Seattle Center present four FREE concerts at the Paul Horiuchi Mural Amphitheatre just south of the Center House/Armory building at Seattle Center. For complete details, including rules for attendees and line-up of bands, visit www.kexp.org.

“WANDERING & WONDERING” – BUTOH PERFORMANCE AT SEATTLE JAPANESE GARDEN On Saturday, August 4, from 1-4 p.m., experience the beauty and tranquility of the Japanese Garden (located at the south end of the Arboretum near the E. Madison St. & Lake Washington Blvd. entrance). During this time, visitors will encounter dancers and musicians in surprising locations throughout the garden. Performers will engage in a minute-by-minute response to the scents, sounds, sights and sensations of the garden. The event is free with regular Japanese Garden admission: $6 per adult, $4 youth, student, senior, and free for childen 5 and younger.

EMERALD CITY BLACK PRIDE AUGUST 4-5 On Saturday, August 4, Emerald City Black Pride hosts: “Marriage Equality Brunch & Panel Discussion,” 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m., at Miller Community Center (330 19th Ave. E.); “Emerald City Black Pride Bowling,” 2-7 p.m., Garage Billiards (1130 Broadway), $5; “Fire Nights Official Black Pride Party,” 10 p.m.-2 a.m., at Dahlak (2007 S. State St.), $6 cover before 11 p.m., $10 after.

On Sunday, August 5, Emerald City Black Pride hosts: “ECBP BBQ in the Park,” 2-5 p.m., Alvin Larkins Park (1501 34th Ave. E.).

For more information, visit Facebook. com/ecblackpride emeraldcityblackpride. tumblr.com, or twitter@ecblackpride

LIFELONG AIDS ALLIANCE – “MOD MEN GAY BINGO” Welcome bingo virgins and bingo veterans alike! Lifelong AIDS Alliance’s popular event is back for a wild, one-night only romp. “Mod Men Gay Bingo” will be held on Saturday, August 4, 7-10:30 pm, at Seattle Center’s Exhibition Hall (321 Mercer CONCERT UNDER THE COLUMNS St.) in conjunction with the Seattle Center’s Every Friday from June 1 to September 7, “The Next Fifty,” a six-month celebration noon-2 p.m. and 4-8:30 p.m., the public is of the impact, memories, and legacy of the invited to FREE concerts by local musicians 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Travel back to at the Columns (Boren Ave. & Pike St.).

1962 with 900 of your soon-to-be-closest friends for a fabulous evening of costumes, prizes and entertainment. Featuring hostess with the mostest, Gaysha Starr, plus the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and other fabu-

Visit us online www.sgn.org

lous guest callers. “Mod Men Gay Bingo” is sure to be a gas!

Tickets: $35 per person includes price of admission and ten bingo games. Or purchase a Queens for a Day VIP package for $400 and get the royal treatment for you and 7 guests, including ten bingo games, complimentary bingo dauber, one cocktail, preferred seating and delicious bingo munchies. “Mod Men Gay Bingo” is an adult event for ages 21 and over. All proceeds support Lifelong AIDS Alliance, a non-profit organization that empowers people living with or at risk of HIV/AIDS and other chronic conditions to lead healthier lives. Advance tickets (recommended) and more information at www.llaa.org.

The Gay Bingo Pledge: I promise to remember that this is only Bingo! I promise to remember that we are here to raise money for Lifelong AIDS Alliance and its services to people living with HIV and AIDS. I promise to remember it’s only a stupid game and we are here to have fun. LET’S PLAY BINGO! At every Gay Bingo event, Lifelong provides American Sign Language interpreters for our guests. Guests who use this service are asked to inform Lifelong staff when making reservations if needing seating closer to the stage.

Guests in wheelchairs or scooters are encouraged to inform Lifelong staff when making reservations regarding preferred seating accommodations. The Exhibition Hall is ADA accessible, and a ramp can be found on Mercer Street at the main entrance.

Part of that collection, Goodbye to Berlin, is called a novel. Looks like a collection of stories to me. One of those stories is “Sally Bowles,” the basis of the character made famous by Liza Minnelli. Mr. Norris Changes Trains is in Britain published separately as a short novel, but in the USA is included in Berlin Stories.

There is so much supporting film material that we’ll have a great time. There’s the musical Cabaret, of course. There’s a documentary called Chris and Don that sounds excellent. Isherwood’s novel about the ten years he spent in Berlin, Christopher and His Kind, was also made into a film. If this turns out to be a thoughtful and provocative direction, we might think of reading Christopher and His Kind for September and making this a two-month jaunt through Isherwood and Berlin, 1929-1939, and the last wild flourish of sexual freedom before the rise of the Nazis into power. Or not. Maybe we’ll do Rimbaud next month. Who knows?

Let’s play it by ear, and this month, together let’s discover Goodbye to Berlin.”

All GLBTQ folks are welcome to participate in this free book club. For more information email nickdimartin@earthlink.net, visit http://faculty.washington.edu/swittet/ SGLBookClub/ or contact SASG at 206322-2437; www.sasgcc.org. For discount on cost of books, email Nick.

BLACK NAIL KARAOKE AT JULIA’S ON BROADWAY WEDNESDAY EVENINGS Black Nail Karaoke is now hosting karaoke on Wednesday evenings at Julia’s on Broadway (Broadway E. & E. Thomas St.).

VANCOUVER (BC) PRIDE PARADE AND FESTIVAL TRIANGLE RECREATION CAMP On Sunday, August 5, the Vancouver AT BENDER CREEK – Pride Society hosts Vancouver, BC’s an“BEACH BALL: nual Pride Parade and Festival. The Parade THE FOAM PARTY” & steps off on Robson St. at 11 a.m. and trav“MARDI GRAS WEEKEND” els west to Denman St., follows Denman Triangle Recreation Camp at Bender St. to Beach Ave., and continues on Beach Ave. to Sunset Beach for the Pride Festival Creek hosts LGBTQ camping all summer which continues until 6 p.m. www.vancou- long. On Saturday, August 11, TRC hosts “Beach Ball: The Foam Party.” Labor Day verpride.ca.

Weekend, August 31-September 3, TRC hosts Mardi Gras Weekend. www.camptrc.

GSBA PRIME TIME EAST On Tuesday, August 7, from 5:30-7:30 org or on Facebook. p.m., come enjoy a warm August evening NIHONMACHI NITE at Sky River Meadery, 14270 WoodinvilleIN SEATTLE Redmond Rd NE, Redmond, at the south On Saturday, August 11, from 4-9 p.m., end of the Woodinville Winery district for GSBA’s Prime Time East. Connect with celebrate summer in Japantown’s shops, other LGBT and allied Eastside residents restaurants, and galleries with special and businesses while sampling mead from events, activities, and performances. Join the meadry and food provided by Snappy us on the corner of 6th Ave. S. and S. Main Dragon Restaurant. Invite your friends and St. For a full listing of participating business colleagues to join the community. Cost: $10 and activities, visit www.NihonmachiNites. members, $15 non-members, $10 students. com.

RSVP: 206-363-9188; www.thegsba.org.

ZOO TUNES OUTDOOR CONCERT SERIES POZ SEATTLE SUMMER BBQ PRESENTS On Wednesday, August 8, from 6-8 p.m., MELISSA ETHERIDGE at The Cuff (13th Ave. & E. Pine St.), join On Sunday, August 12, doors at 5 p.m., POZSeattle on the back patio for some Summer Grillin’, socializing, to catch-up show at 6 p.m., Zoo Tunes presents An Evewith old friends, to make new ones, and a ning With Melissa Etheridge. For more inwhole lot of fun. Please bring your appetite formation, visit www.zoo.org/zootunes. for burgers, chicken breasts, beef hot dogs, BORDER RIDERS Boca burgers, chips, salads and desserts MOTORCYCLE CLUB with all the fixins!!

SUMMER CAMPING This event is offered at no cost (no one The Border Riders Motorcycle Club is the turned away for lack of funds), but to help with overhead costs, a $2 or more donation largest and one of the oldest Gay motorcycle is requested. Beverages are at cost from the clubs in North America. Founded in 1969, bar. This event is for all HIV-Positive men BRMC currently has over 70 members priand their friends, regardless of age, shape, marily from Washington, Oregon and Britsize, or color. POZSeattle is a social orga- ish Columbia. The club provides social and nization run for and by Seattle-area HIV- educational opportunities for our members positive guys that is committed to planning and guests interested in recreational moand promoting fun, social activities. www. torcycle touring. Our diverse, international membership is composed of both seasoned pozseattle.org. riders and beginners, and we come from all walks of life and professions.

SEATTLE GAY & LESBIAN Border Riders hosts a short monthly Meet BOOK CLUB – and Greet gathering on the Wednesday beGOODBYE TO BERLIN The Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club fore the third weekend of each month at meets every Wednesday from 6-7:15 p.m., 7 p.m., at The Cuff Complex (1533 13th at Seattle Area Support Groups Community Ave.). The next Meet and Greet will be held Center (303 17th Ave. E. at E. Thomas St.). on Wednesday, August 15.

From May through October, BRMC hosts “For August, Christopher Isherwood is our man. We all know his name. His stories monthly weekend camping trips – May 18were behind the musical, Cabaret. Several 21, June 15-17, July 20-22, August 24-26, years ago we read his short American novel, September 21-23, and October 19-21.

For more information, visit www.borderA Single Man, and went to see the film with Colin Firth. Of all his works, the ones that riders.com. are probably the most famous and long-lasting are his Berlin Stories. Let’s start there.

August 3, 2012

Seattle Gay News

9

e t o v o t RegisteR

www.myvote.wa.gov

10 Seattle Gay News

August 3, 2012

Celebrating 39 Years!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

August 3, 2012

Seattle Gay News 11

 Broadway 

Farmers Market 12 Seattle Gay News

August 3, 2012

Broadway & E. Pine at Seattle Central Community College Sundays, 11am - 3pm, April 22 - Dec 23.

Celebrating 39 Years!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

August 3, 2012

Seattle Gay News 13

14 Seattle Gay News

August 3, 2012

Celebrating 39 Years!

•TAPAS •PASTA •PAELLA •COCKTAILS Late Night Dining Full Menu Tues.-Thurs. 5:30 to 11:30; Fri. & Sat. 5:00 to 1:00; Sun. 5:00 to 10:00; Mon.- Closed 2366 Eastlake Ave. E 206.324.3160 www.pomodoro.net Free Garage Parking

MoSS Alley MotorS, Inc. SpecialiStS in VolVo, Honda, toyota and Subaru

932 12th ave.

Seattle, Wa 98122 (206).325--.3992 www.mossalley.com Seattle’s most progressive auto shop!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

August 3, 2012

Seattle Gay News 15

Federal court tosses challenge to Hate Crimes Act

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has declined to hear a challenge to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act brought by three Michigan clergymen who alleged the law was meant to “eradicate religious beliefs opposing the homosexual agenda.”

In a decision issued August 2, a threejudge panel of the court said the plaintiffs had no standing to sue because they had not been charged with violating the Hate Crimes Act, nor did they intend to violate it.

“We agree with the district court’s determination that Plaintiffs have not demonstrated an intent to violate the Hate Crimes Act or offered sufficient evidence that they will nonetheless face adverse law enforcement action. Accordingly, they lack standing to prosecute this case,” the court said in its decision.

The suit was filed on behalf of the clergymen in February 2010 by the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative Christian legal nonprofit. President Obama signed the Hate Crimes Act into law in October 2009.

According to its website, “the Thomas More Law Center’s mission is to restore and defend America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and moral values, and to preserve a strong national defense and a free and sovereign United States of America.”

It’s that time …

by Leslie Robinson SGN Contributing Writer I went on vacation expecting to visit old friends, see my brother get married, and bake in the sun. I did all that – and watched my partner devour every lobster in three New England states.

But even more than that happened. Near

the end of the two weeks, as Anne and I sat on the grass outside Provincetown’s town hall, eating linguica, egg sandwiches, and fried dough, we talked about our future.

Anyone who eats such a meal regularly would most likely have no future, but hey, we were on vacation. (Just ask the lobsters.)

By the end of our conversation, I reached the decision I’ve been sneaking up on for

a while now. It’s time for me to make a change. It’s time for me to stop writing this column.

I’ve been hammering out “General Gayety” for a dozen years or so. When I began, Vermont was putting in place the nation’s first civil unions, which resulted in acrimony not seen in Vermont since Ben called Jerry a chunky monkey.

Now, several assorted states offer samesex marriage, polls show a majority of Americans support it, and for the first time a sitting president has endorsed it.

That’s social change moving at Mach speed.

I’ve written about the landmark Lawrence v. Texas decision, the death of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the world’s first openly Lesbian prime minister, and LGBT teens with more leadership ability than George W. Bush ever dreamed of.

I’ve also written about “corrective rape” in South Africa, Gay domestic violence, murderous homophobia, and fundamentalists blaming us for everything from 9/11 to cellulite.

During this period, I’ve seen a lot of LGBT newspapers come and go – mostly go – and the explosion of online LGBT outlets.

Now major online purveyors of LGBT news speak of their wobbliness. Place your bets now, ladies and gentlemen, on the future of Gay journalism.

NO HARM, NO FOUL Plaintiffs in the suit claimed that the law would subject them to “increased government scrutiny, questioning, investigation, surveillance, and intimidation on account of their strong, public opposition to homosexual activism, the homosexual lifestyle, and the homosexual agenda.”

The Sixth Circuit, however, dismissed these claims. The law “does not prohibit Plaintiffs’ proposed course of speech,” the court said, and the plaintiffs “can’t quite pinpoint what it is they want to say that could subject them to prosecution under the Hate Crimes Act.” Even if they quoted Leviticus 20:13 – the notorious biblical passage specifying the death penalty for same-sex relations – “they have not alleged any intention to do more than merely quote it,” which is not prohibited by the Hate Crimes Act, the court ruled.

“Plaintiffs oppose the Hate Crimes Act. Somewhat inconsistently, they also say they oppose ‘crimes of violence,’” the court noted.

“If the Hate Crimes Act prohibits only willfully causing bodily injury and Plaintiffs are not planning to willfully injure anybody, then what is their complaint?” the judges asked.

“Plaintiffs answer that they fear wrongful prosecution and conviction under the Act. Not only is that fear misplaced, it’s inadequate to generate a case or controversy the federal courts can hear.”

For all the difficulties inherent in writing for Gay publications – like low pay, low pay, and (did I mention?) low pay – it’s one of the best things I’ve done. Writing “General Gayety” allowed me to combine my love of humor with my commitment to the LGBT cause.

I extend my thanks to the editors and publishers from Charlotte to San Diego, Detroit to Dallas, Seattle to Philadelphia, who have run my column in their pages. And I thank the readers from around the country and around the world who have let me know what they thought of my work.

I even thank the homophobes who saw fit to drop me a line. Their venom provided me with column fodder. Really quite thoughtful of them.

I’m not disappearing completely. Because so much is always happening in the LGBT sphere, I might find I simply have to write a column now and then. It’s a release for me.

Beats exercise.

But mainly I intend to focus on two areas.

The first is my blog. It’s a home for LGBT humor, so it now carries forward the “General Gayety” name. The blog is chock-full of cartoons, videos, and photos that I didn’t create – for which we can all be grateful – along with posts that I did write.

Dropping the column will allow me, perversely, to write more often and address issues more quickly in the form of pithy posts, so come visit me in blogdom at www.generalgayety.com.

My second aim is to write a book. It won’t be a Gay book, but I’ll sure enough be coming out in it – as a person with OCD. That’s my version of coming out as a never-ending exercise.

So wish me luck and strength, and I wish the same for you.

Leslie Robinson is optimistic – a serious departure for her. Email her at lesarobinson@gmail.com, and check out her blog at www.generalgayety.com.

16 Seattle Gay News

August 3, 2012

Celebrating 39 Years!

Come meet Tim and Matt and join the family.

Go 1605 12th Avenue at Pine, Seattle (In liquor store parking garage.) Seattle Storm!

206-838-6027 or 206-898-4306

Visit us online www.sgn.org

August 3, 2012

Seattle Gay News 17

‘The Gay Crusaders’ at 40 Landmark 1972 book an invaluable guide to the early movement

by Jesse Monteagudo Special to the SGN The year 1972 was to Lesbian and Gay books what 1969 was to Lesbian and Gay politics. Many important “Gay 101” books were published in 1972. These were not scientific studies by heterosexual academics, but first-person narratives by openly Lesbian or Gay activists: The Gay Insider USA, by John Paul Hudson (as John Francis Hunter); The Gay Mystique, by Peter Fisher; I Have More Fun With You Than Anybody, by Lige Clarke and Jack Nichols; Lesbian/Woman, by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon; The Lord Is My Shepherd and He Knows I’m Gay, by Troy Perry; Out of the Closets: Voices of Gay Liberation, by Karla Jay and Allen Young; and Sappho Was a Right-On Woman, by Sidney Abbott and Barbara Love. The Fisher and Martin/Lyon books received the second annual Gay Book Award by the Gay Task Force of the American Library Association.) One of 1972’s most memorable titles was The Gay Crusaders, by Kay Tobin (Lahusen) and Randy Wicker. A pocked-sized original from the Paperback Library, The Gay Crusaders was a collection of “in-depth interviews with 15 homosexuals – men and women who are shaping America’s newest sexual revolution.” They were, in order of appearance: Troy Perry (born 1940), founder, Metropolitan Community Churches Jim Owles (1946–93), founding president, Gay Activists Alliance of New York Phyllis Lyon (born 1924) and Del Martin (1921–2008), founders, Daughters of Bilitis Craig Rodwell (1940–93), Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop founder, Stonewall veteran Dick Michaels (Richard Mitch) (1926– 91), founding editor, The Advocate Frank Kameny (1925–2011), founder, Mattachine Society Washington Jack Baker and Michael McConnell (both born 1942), same-sex marriage pioneers Ruth Simpson (1926–2008), president, New York Daughters of Bilitis Marty Robinson (1943–92), founder, Gay

Activists Alliance of New York Lige Clarke (1942–75) and Jack Nichols (1938–2005), Mattachine, GAY magazine Arthur Evans (1942–2011), founder, GAA New York; historian and philosopher Barbara Gittings (1932–2007), founder, DOB New York; Gay Task Force, ALA Later it was revealed by Nichols at GayToday.com that Tobin wrote The Gay Crusaders all by herself, and only added Wicker’s name after the publisher insisted on gender parity. This was a surprise to me, since Wicker had already made a name for himself as author of “The Wicker Basket,” one of the first columns written from a Gay activist perspective. Even so, Wicker and Tobin will always be linked as the “authors” of The Gay Crusaders.

Though long out of print, The Gay Crusaders endures as a basic resource for anyone who is interested in the early days of the Lesbian and Gay movement. It was part of the Arno Press series of Gay classics in 1975 and was number 55 on my own list of the “Top 100 LGBT Books of the 20th Century.”

The Gay Crusaders left out some important figures in the movement, notably Harry Hay and other West Coast pioneers. And its coverage of Lesbian activists (4 out of 15) mirrored the Gay movement’s gender inequity that by 1972 had already driven many women to form their own Lesbian-feminist movement. Historians like John D’Emilio, Lillian Faderman, Charles Kaiser, Eric Marcus, James T. Sears, Stuart Timmons, and C. Todd White have since closed most of the gaps left open by The Gay Crusaders.

A decade or so ago, TV journalist Tom Brokaw wrote a book, The Greatest Generation, that honored the men and women who grew up in the Depression, fought in World War II, and produced the postwar baby boom. In my opinion, the men and women who created the Lesbian and Gay movements of the ’50s and ’60s are our community’s greatest generation. They dared to be out and proud at a time when virtually all of their contemporaries were hiding in the closet. Against great odds, they founded our first political, social, cultural, and religious institutions; published our first newspapers and magazines; and pioneered the field of Lesbian and Gay studies. They built the scaffold and blazed the trail that my generation, and subsequent ones, would stand on and walk upon.

Admittedly, these “crusaders” made mistakes. Their biggest failing, by today’s standards, was ignoring the rights or even the existence of Bisexual or Transgender people. As natural leaders, they had some elitist tendencies, particularly the naïve idea that

all by themselves, they could unite a motley group of people who had the same enemies but virtually nothing else in common. They were not above indulging in ego trips, personality conflicts, and needless divisions.

They were idealists with a zeal that made them less successful but more enduring than later, more practical, activists. Indeed, it was their idealism that turned this group of fallible men and women into our community’s heroes. Though Owles and Robinson and Evans only spoke for a few when their GAA zapped its way through New York City, they became role models for many of us who were too young, too closeted, or too distant from the Big Apple to get involved. We who are active today are carrying on their legacy.

In 1998 a star-studded galaxy of pioneer Lesbian and Gay activists gathered at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Hollywood to celebrate the life of activist/author/archivist Jim Kepner, who had recently died. Joining “Gay crusaders” Perry, Lyon, Martin, Kameny, Nichols, Gittings, and Tobin were Bob Basker, Lisa Ben, Malcolm Boyd, Vern Bullough, Hal Call, Flo Fleischman, Lee Glaze, Harry Hay, Dale Jennings, Phil Johnson, Bill Kelly, Judd Marmor, Eldon Murray, Ernie Potvin, Eddie Sandifer, Jose Sarria, and Mark Segal. In addition to paying tribute to Kepner, this “summit” gave the survivors of the LGBT community’s “greatest generation” a final opportunity to gather.

Remember these names. If we ever create a nationwide Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, these people should be the first ones in it.

vidal

continued from cover father, Sen. Thomas Gore of Oklahoma. It is believed that his time with the senator at such an early age helped to shape Vidal’s radical politics.

When World War II broke out, Vidal enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He served mainly in the Pacific theater and was commissioned as a warrant officer.

Vidal published his first novel, Williwaw, based on his military experience, just after the war ended in 1946. But it was his third book, The City and the Pillar (1948) that gained him true notoriety. One of the first American novels to address homosexuality in a frank and uninhibited manner, it so outraged critics that The New York Times refused to review his books for many years.

This backlash resonated throughout much of the literary community and prompted Vidal to begin writing mystery novels under the pen name Edgar Box. That series of novels was widely successful and kept the author financially afloat. They are still in print today.

Vidal’s own sexuality was somewhat ambiguous. Many people today think of him as Gay, but the author had affairs with both men and women throughout his life. Anaïs Nin claimed involvement with Vidal in her famed diaries, although Vidal denied this in his 1995 memoir, Palimpsest.

The City and the Pillar, a coming-of-age story about a young man discovering his ho-

mosexuality, is dedicated to “J.T.,” which Vidal later identified as “the love of his life,” James Trimble III – who was killed at Iwo Jima on March 1, 1945.

Vidal met his long-term partner, Howard Austen, in 1950. He once said that the secret to their relationship’s longevity was that they did not have sex.

“It’s easy to sustain a relationship when sex plays no part, and impossible, I have observed, when it does,” wrote Vidal of their relationship. Austen died in November 2003.

In 1960, Vidal ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress as a New York Democrat. Powerful and influential friends such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Paul Newman backed him.

“There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party ... and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat.

Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt – until recently ... and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, [and] the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties,” wrote Vidal in the 1970s.

Vidal’s radical views got him into nearphysical altercations with conservative political commentator and author William F. Buckley and liberal author Norman Mailer, who allegedly head-butted Vidal.

In 1993, Vidal won the National Book Award for United States Essays, 1952– 1992, a collection of his critiques on politics, sexuality, religion, and literature written originally for publications such as Esquire, The Nation, and The New York Review of Books.

While The City and the Pillar is certainly one of his most important novels, many critics consider 1968’s Myra Breckinridge his masterpiece. The graphic, satirical novel is written in the form of a diary and addresses issues of feminism and Transsexuality by detailing the story of Myra, who becomes Myron. Literary critic Dennis Altman called the book “part of a major cultural assault on the assumed norms of gender and sexuality.”

Vidal’s death was confirmed by his nephew, Burr Steers, who said Vidal had been living alone and had been sick for “quite a while.”

In addition to his considerable body of work, Vidal will be remembered for his wit. Some of his more memorable quotes include: “A narcissist is someone betterlooking than you are”; “A good deed never goes unpunished”; and “Democracy is supposed to give you the feeling of choice, like Painkiller X and Painkiller Y. But they’re both just aspirin.” On the subject of sexual orientation, he once said, “There is no such thing as a homosexual or a heterosexual person. There are only homo- or heterosexual acts. Most people are a mixture of impulses, if not practices.”

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18 Seattle Gay News

August 3, 2012

Celebrating 39 Years!

Researchers see hopeful signs for AIDS cure at DC conference

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Two studies announced at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., have opened new possibilities in the search for a cure for HIV/AIDS. On July 25, scientists said they had used a drug normally prescribed for cancer to flush out dormant HIV from trial patients’ white blood cells. The next day, another group of researchers announced that two HIVpositive patients showed no trace of HIV in their lymphocytes following bone marrow transplants.

In a study published in the scientific journal Nature, researchers reported using the chemotherapy drug vorinostat to revive – and therefore identify – dormant HIV in the CD4+ T cells of eight trial patients.

The patients were also prescribed antiretroviral drugs, which stop HIV from multiplying but have to be taken for life because they do not kill the virus hidden away in reservoirs.

“After a single dose of the [anti-cancer] drug, at least for a moment in time, [vorinostat] is flushing the virus out of hiding,” study co-author Dr. David Margolis of the University of North Carolina told the news agency AFP at the conference.

“This is proof of the concept, of the idea that the virus can be specifically targeted in a patient by a drug, and essentially opens up the way for this class of drugs to be studied for use in this way.”

Vorinostat targets an enzyme that allows the virus to lie latent in patients’ cells. Exactly what would happen after the virus was revealed in reservoir cells is not certain, Margolis said.

“We know that many cells that produce HIV die in the process. We know many cells that produce HIV can be identified and killed by the immune system. As far as we can tell, all the viruses floating around while patients are taking therapy don’t get into cells because they are blocked by the therapy,” Margolis said.

Without a host cell, he said, HIV would

die within a few minutes.

Researchers also cautioned that vorinostat may have some toxic effects and stressed that their study was merely an early indication of feasibility that had to be explored further.

“There is a possibility that this could work,” said Margolis. “But ... if it is only 99 percent true and one percent of the virus escapes, it won’t succeed. That is why we have to be careful about our work and what we claim about it.”

MARROW TRANSPLANTS HOLD PROMISE In the second study discussed at the AIDS conference, a team of researchers at Harvard Medical School found that a combination of bone marrow transplants and antiretroviral therapy appeared to eliminate HIV from their patients’ blood.

HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy often achieve “undetectable viral loads,” meaning there are no virus particles in their blood. But they still have dormant HIV in their lymphocytes – a type of white blood cell that plays a key role in the body’s immune system. If antiretroviral therapy is interrupted, the dormant HIV can reactivate.

According to researchers, eliminating traces of HIV in these cells is an indication that the “reservoir” of latent HIV may also have been eliminated.

“We believe the transplanted cells killed off and replaced all of the patients’ own lymphocytes, including the infected cells, and the donor cells were protected from becoming infected themselves by the antiretroviral therapy [the patients] were taking throughout the transplant period,” said study senior author Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The “next logical step,” Kuritzkes said, would be to take the patients off their medication regimens to verify that transplant therapy can eradicate HIV. That would require patient consent and adherence to ethics protocols, he added.

But even if the transplant procedure were found to eliminate the reservoir of latent HIV cells, bone marrow transplantation is a very risky procedure. Kuritzkes said he does not “foresee bone marrow transplantation being performed on otherwise healthy HIV-infected patients who are doing well on [antiretroviral therapy].”

Other medical experts said the two studies were promising because of their apparent success in eliminating the patients’ reservoirs of dormant HIV. “Eliminating the reservoir is the key to the cure,” said Dr. Savita Pahwa, director of the Center for AIDS Research at University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.

She also stressed that it would only be possible to say these patients were “functionally cured” if the virus did not rebound when the patients went off antiretroviral therapy.

“Every hint you get that it’s possible to wipe out the reservoir needs to be investigated,” Pahwa added.

cure

continued from cover the Department of Defense as a Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP). As with other CDMRPs, the department would work with academic researchers and nonprofit organizations to create a consortium of scientists and advocates to review cure proposals.

“After slow but important progress in the face of a deadly and terrible disease, a cure is finally within reach,” Himes said July 31 while visiting a display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. “This bill provides the medical research community with the resources it needs to find that cure so that we can finally put an end to this worldwide epidemic.”

Lee stressed the importance of federal investment in health care.

“Federal investments in research have paid enormous dividends in the health and well-being of people in the U.S. and around the world,” she said.

“More than a quarter-century of federally funded research into the virus that causes AIDS has provided unprecedented hope for an end to the epidemic. An AIDS-free generation is not yet upon us, but may not be far off and we must keep working to achieve this goal.”

LOCAL REPS ARE SKEPTICAL Seattle’s Democratic members of Congress, Jim McDermott (D–7th Dist.) and Adam Smith (D–9th Dist.) told SGN they are studying the bill to determine if they will co-sponsor it.

McDermott spokesperson Kinsey Kiriakos told SGN that “the Congressman absolutely supports funding for research into a cure for AIDS,” but “he is not sure that the Defense Department is the best place to direct those research funding dollars.” “[McDermott] is considering co-sponsoring the bill, but he wants to look into the bill further and figure out why the DoD would be better suited than the National Institutes of Health,” Kiriakos added.

Congressional staffer Ayofemi Kirby told SGN that Rep. Smith is also “looking into co-sponsoring the Cure for AIDS Act.” Kirby added that “as a member of the bipartisan HIV/AIDS Caucus, [Smith] has made HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention, and general programming a priority.”

According to Kirby, Smith has co-sponsored bills to eliminate abstinence-only STD prevention programs (HR 1085), to establish a national strategy for HIV/AIDS treatments, and to establish a comprehensive sex-education plan to help reduce STDs (HR 3324).

Some 34 million people worldwide were estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in 2010, including 1.2 million in the United States. The average lifetime cost of HIV treatment is estimated to exceed $360,000 per person.

In fiscal 2012, the federal government spent $27.7 billion on HIV/AIDS, mostly for prevention and treatment.

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Seattle Gay News 19

meth

continued from page 5 worried about the “lost boys.” The meth addicts. Their lives are uncomfortable. He should know – he used to be one.

“I choose to be close to the ugly for that is what feeds my soul,” said Radovich. “It’s what is inside that counts, not the ugliness we can see in the moment, yet that is what we choose to focus on.”

So, in an effort to help save lives ravaged by meth addiction, Radovich and SOS approach treatment in a nontraditional way.

“Negative media about meth perpetuates the stigma, and both active and ex-crystal users feel isolated or fearful of talking openly about their addiction or recovery,” SOS has posted on its website (www.strengthoverspeed.org). “As Gay men in recovery, we felt compelled to diffuse those negative stereotypes and show that we can overcome our addiction and actively participate in relationships and within the community.”

“Our personal experiences with addiction

and our desire to reduce the stigma we often face within our own community can help to portray a positive face to our communities, families, and friends who have been directly or indirectly affected by our methamphetamine use and those who are currently struggling with addiction,” said SOS peers.

According to Radovich, the LGBT community suffers addiction rates three times higher than our heterosexual counterparts.

This is why he advocates for a better, more understanding community than what we currently see in Seattle.

“We can be so mean to each other sometimes,” he said. “With all the shit going on in our world, what we say to each other as community members is so important.

“Can we not be mindful of our speech?

What words we choose to say to each other?

“We as a community must learn to communicate, be present with each other, and look into each other’s eyes, and say, ‘you matter.’”

“We all matter, right?” he says, more of a statement than a question.

Strength Over Speed has been a conduit for men to come together without judgment for several years now.

“We are proud of our community partners like Seattle Counseling Service, Lifelong AIDS Alliance, and Madison Clinic at Harborview, among others,” said Radovich. “Professionals are just one piece of the struggle. With addiction a much larger piece are us peers. We spend more time with each other – we interact and share intimate feelings, struggles, and fears as well as hope.”

“We all need hope a desire to excel, to belong, be validated, and to be loved,” he said.

“We are all connected in community.”

Radovich says that ignoring addiction and the people dealing with it “serves no one.”

HOW TO HELP There are some tried, true, and tested ways of communicating your concerns without judgment. SOS provided SGN with this link: http://www.strengthoverspeed.org/booklet_ friend.pdf. This is a guide to communicating with people who struggle with addiction.

Through its weekly peer-led support groups, sober social activities, and community volunteer projects, SOS offers vital recovery support for Gay and Bisexual men, regardless of HIV status. This promotes positive health outcomes and reduces high-risk sexual behavior associated with methamphetamine use.

Strength Over Speed currently has four

ongoing meetings in Seattle, all peer-facilitated. Meetings are held at Dunshee House, 303 17th Ave. E. JUDGEMENT-FREE, SHAME-FREE Project NEON (Needle & Sex Education Outreach Network) is a community-level HIV-prevention and intervention program that targets Gay and Bisexual men affected by crystal meth.

According to Aleks Martin, AAS-CDP, program coordinator for Project NEON, it “provides free, judgment-free, and shamefree services through individual counseling and group treatment while meeting clients where they’re at.”

NEON also provides education and consultation to individuals and programs interested in increasing knowledge and understanding of meth addiction, and provides active outreach through its NEON Peer Education team, who provide one-for-one needle exchange, safer use kits, safer sex kits including condoms, lube, and educational materials, and, most importantly, face-to-face support for men in the midst of meth use.

“Drug and alcohol use among LGBT populations often raise issues of shame and self-esteem as a minority population faced with civil inequalities and mainstream acceptance,” Martin told SGN. “Specifically, meth use among Gay and Bisexual men can often affect critical issues as concealment,

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www.sgn.org 20 Seattle Gay News

August 3, 2012

Celebrating 39 Years!

safer sex decision-making, isolation, coming out, and overall mental health and wellbeing.”

Martin says responses are mixed with meth. “Some pride themselves that they’re part of the weekend warrior clique, yet some are too embarrassed to come forward and seek help.”

What NEON provides is a unique avenue to identifying support, an alternative to traditional and often conservative routes to chemical dependency treatment.

“NEON recognizes that issues Gay and Bisexual men face are very important and unique to the population, and a harm-reduction approach and perspective can be the most uplifting opportunity to address imminent support and ongoing recovery,” said Martin.

For more information about Project NEON, visit www.projectneon.org. Project NEON is a program of Seattle Counseling Service, serving LGBTQ communities since 1969.

R-74 OPPONENTS NOT PLEASED Preserve Marriage Washington, a conservative organization opposed to R-74, released a statement July 27 on its website, claiming that “if this law goes unchallenged, voters would have no say and marriage would be changed for every person in our state from being the union of one man and one woman to being a genderless institution.”

The organization said the Bezos donation would help “impose same-sex marriage” in Washington.

Bezos’ gift more than doubles the $2.3 million previously raised by Washington United for Marriage.

Still, in a July 30 email sent to supporters, Silk warned, “The worst thing we can do at this point in this campaign is get complacent. While this gift is a huge shot in the arm, we still have millions more to raise to fully fund a campaign that will win in November.”

amazon

platform

adult and the difficulties she faced publicly acknowledging her sexuality. She asked Bezos to donate upward of $200,000 to the campaign to Approve Referendum 74 – the ballot initiative that put same-sex marriage in Washington to public vote.

“Jeff, I suspect you support marriage equality,” she wrote. “I beg you not to sit on the sidelines and hope the vote goes our way. Help us make it so.”

Cast received a reply, “Jen,” the e-mail said, “this is right for so many reasons.

We’re in for $2.5 million. Jeff & MacKenzie.”

A Democratic National Committee staffer, who spoke to the Blade on condition of anonymity, said that in addition to marriage equality, the draft platform would include an end to DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) and language supporting ENDA (the Employment Non-Discrimination Act).

A “close-to-final draft” of the platform will be presented to the whole Platform Committee when it meets in Detroit next weekend. That committee will consider amendments before presenting the platform at the party’s convention, which takes place

continued from cover

continued from cover

in Charlotte, N.C., September 3 to 6.

The exact wording of the proposed LGBT planks language has not yet been revealed.

It is not clear if the new platform will include endorsement of specific legislation.

Nevertheless, it is almost certain the marriage equality plank will be adopted, along with the other pro-LGBT language, and many observers believe that will be a stunning advance for the Democrats.

“The ratification of a Gay marriage plank could mark the effective end of Gay marriage as a contentious issue within the party,” Steve Kornacki wrote at Salon.com.

“Overall support for marriage equality is still quickly rising among all voters, and by 2016 it will probably be a given that every Democratic presidential candidate will be onboard.”

Only 16 years ago, most Democrats in Congress voted to pass DOMA and Democratic president Bill Clinton signed it into law. A mere four years ago, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he was still “evolving” on the issue of equal marriage rights, and Hillary Clinton, his opponent for the Democratic nomination, would only support civil unions.

LGBT ACTIVISTS PRAISE MOVE LGBT rights activists noted the historic shift, and were quick to praise the Democratic committee.

“We are grateful for the Platform Drafting Committee’s unanimous vote to include the freedom to marry in its draft of the Democratic Party platform,” said Freedom to Marry campaign director Marc Solomon.

“As I testified to the Committee on Friday, the Democratic Party has a noble history of fighting for the human and civil rights of all Americans. We are proud that the Commit-

tee is including language that will ensure the Party is leading the way forward in supporting marriage for loving and committed same-sex couples and their families.”

“Like Americans from all walks of life, the Democratic Party has recognized that committed and loving Gay and Lesbian couples deserve the right to have their relationships respected as equal under the law,” HRC president Chad Griffin said.

“I believe that one day very soon, the platforms of both major parties will include similar language on this issue.”

The 2008 Democratic platform, adopted at the convention that nominated Obama for president, called for “full inclusion of all families, including same-sex couples, in the life of our nation” and for “equal responsibility, benefits, and protections.” It did not endorse same-sex marriage, however, at least in part because Obama was trying to finesse the issue during the campaign.

The 2008 platform also was critical of DOMA, but at the time no one had introduced specific legislation aimed at repealing it. The Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal DOMA, was introduced by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D–N.Y.) in 2009. Diane Feinstein (D–Calif.) is the bill’s primary Senate sponsor.

A Pew poll released July 31 found that 65% of Democrats and 51% of independents support marriage equality, while only 24% of Republicans do. The 2012 numbers reveal a 15-point jump in support among Democrats over the 2008 survey, and 7 points among independents.

A May 2012 CNN/ORC poll found similar numbers. Seventy percent of Democrats and 60% of independents said they support legal recognition for same-sex marriages, while only 23% of Republicans did.

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Celebrating 39 Years!

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August 3, 2012

Seattle Gay News 23